Elder José L. Alonso

Even before he joined the Church, José Luis Alonso Trejo had a testimony of the power of prayer. “When I was 11 years old,” he says, “I nearly died. The doctors had given up on me—I overheard them speaking. So I prayed and prayed to the Lord, and He healed me.

“When I later heard the story of Joseph Smith and learned how a boy only 14 years old spoke with God, I knew it was true. I knew that God could answer our prayers, that He knows us.”

That same feeling of comfort guided Elder Alonso as he studied the Book of Mormon. “Because of prayer and this book, I know with certainty that Jesus is the Christ,” he says.

Elder Alonso was born in Mexico City, Mexico, in November 1958 to Luis and Luz Alonso. As a teenager he moved to the city of Cuautla, Mexico, where he joined the Church. Attending Mutual brought him into contact with strong youth who fellowshipped him and provided him a second home. It was also while attending Mutual that he met Rebecca Salazar, the woman who would later become his wife.

When Elder Alonso turned 19, he served a full-time mission in the Mexico Hermosillo Mission. Following his mission, Elder Alonso and Rebecca were married on February 24, 1981, in the Mesa Arizona Temple. They are the parents of two children.

In addition to serving as an institute director for the Church Educational System, Elder Alonso has a medical degree in pediatric development and worked as a homeopathic physician and surgeon. His career demonstrates a long-held desire to serve and bless others—just as the Lord blessed him when he was sick as a child. “Service to others builds unity and brotherhood,” he says, “and invites the power of the Lord into our lives.”

Prior to his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Alonso served as a bishop, stake mission president, stake president, mission president’s counselor, president of the Mexico Tijuana Mission, and Area Seventy.